Living, breathing running shoes.

Living, breathing running shoes.

(YouTube)

If everything goes according to Shamees Aden's plan, you may one day never need to buy another pair of running shoes. The designer and biotech researcher unveiled herproduct concept, a collaboration with a University of Southern Denmark professor, at London's Wearable Futures conference. The shoes are 3D-printed using protocells -- molecules that are not alive but can be combined to create living organisms -- and conform to the wearer's foot like a second skin. After a run, they'd need basic care,like a houseplant, and they could also respond to pressure exerted by the wearer, inflating or deflating as needed to better cushion the foot. The technology needed to create a fully functioning prototype, however, is still about 20 years away.